China may still use SV40 vaccines today – Italy did until 1999

excerpt: from “Genes and Cancer” Journal

“SV40-contaminated vaccines were distributed until 1963 in the United States and in most parts of the world.^2,3 However, USSR polio vaccines, used in every country that was under the influence of the USSR, contained infectious SV40 until at least 1978.³ In Italy, until 1999, at least one seed from which polio vaccines were manufactured was contaminated with SV40. While none of the 4 vaccine lots tested were contaminated and no live virus was recovered from the seed, when the Italian authorities were informed of this fact, production of the vaccines switched to the World Health Organization (WHO) polio seed (Phil Minor, personal communication, March 2010).²⁷ Some countries such as China still produce polio vaccines in monkey tissues, and such vaccines may contain SV40.³ In other words, human exposure to SV40 through contaminated polio vaccines has been vast and has been influenced by geographical differences associated with the use of contaminated or noncontaminated vaccines. Therefore, humans have been exposed to multiple strains of SV40; most of these were archetypal strains with one 72 bp in the enhancer region (by far, the most common strain present in polio vaccines^2,3); some were nonarchetypal (i.e., also known as wild-type) and contained two 72-bp elements. ”

full article here:  http://gan.sagepub.com/content/1/10/1008.full

From:   Published January 7, 2011, doi:10.1177/1947601910395580        Genes & Cancer  [Journal] October 2010 vol. 1no. 10 1008-1020

Tissue Tropism of SV40 Transformation of Human Cells

Role of the Viral Regulatory Region and of Cellular Oncogenes

1. Lei Zhang1,2,*,
2. Fang Qi1,3,*,
3. Giovanni Gaudino1,*,
4. Oriana Strianese1,
5. Haining Yang1,2,
6. Paul Morris4,
7. Harvey I. Pass5,
8. Vivek R. Nerurkar6,
9. Maurizio Bocchetta7 and
10. Michele Carbone1,2⇓

+Author Affiliations

Human polyomavirus BK

Human polyomavirus BKV and renal disease
Authors
Keerti V. Shah
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA

Human and non‐human polyomaviruses

In 1971, two human polyomaviruses were discovered, BK virus (BKV) from the urine of a renal transplant recipient (whose initials were B.K.) and JC virus (JCV) from the brain of a patient (whose initials were J.C.) with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The polyomavirus subfamily of the papovavirus family also includes viruses of monkeys (rhesus and cynomologus macaques, African green monkey, baboon), cattle, rabbit, mouse, rat and parakeet [1]. The viruses have a 5 kb double‐stranded, circular, supercoiled, DNA genome. Polyomaviruses are highly species‐specific and have probably co‐evolved with their natural hosts. Primary infections are essentially harmless but the viruses tend to persist indefinitely in the infected individual.
BKV and JCV biology

Primary BKV infections occur in early childhood and primary JCV infections in late childhood. Both viruses remain latent in the kidney and in B lymphocytes after primary infection. Almost all illnesses attributable to BKV and JCV occur in the background of immunodeficiency, most often as a result of reactivation of the latent virus. JCV is the aetiologic agent of PML, a fatal, subacute, progressive demyelinating disease of the brain, which occurs as a complication of AIDS and other immunosuppressive conditions. In contrast to the tropism of JCV for brain, BKV‐related pathology is largely confined to the urinary tract.
Some simian polyomaviruses produce illnesses in their natural hosts which closely resemble human illnesses caused by JCV and BKV. Simian virus 40, an indigenous polyomavirus infection of rhesus macaques, produces a PML‐like neurological disease in animals which are immunosuppressed by infection with simian immunodeficiency virus [2]. The renal pathology caused by infection with the newly described cynomolgus polyomavirus [3] in animals undergoing experimental renal transplantation is very similar to the BKV‐associated human disease described in a recent issue of this journal [4]. More……
http://m.ndt.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/6/754.full

Carcinogenic Viruses

Carcinogenic viruses and solid cancers

Paolo De Paoli1,*, Antonino Carbone2
Article first published online: 18 JAN 2013

DOI: 10.1002/ijc.27995 © 2013 UICC
Issue
International Journal of Cancer
Volume 133, Issue 7, pages 1517–1529, 1 October 2013
Additional Information(Show All)
How to CiteAuthor InformationPublication History

Abstract
View Full Article with Supporting Information (HTML) Get PDF (196K)
Keywords:
solid cancers;human papillomaviruses;Epstein Barr virus;Mouse Mammary Tumor virus;JC virus;Merkel Cell virus

Viral infections are important risk factors for tumor development in humans. Selected types of cancers, either lymphomas or carcinomas, for which there is sufficient evidence in humans of a causal association with specific viruses, have been identified. Experimental and clinical data on the possible association of other tumor types and carcinogenic viruses are presently controversial. In this article, we review the current evidence on the relationship between breast, colorectal and lung cancers and carcinogenic viruses. The majority of the publications reviewed do not provide definitive evidence that the viruses studied are associated with breast, colon and lung cancers. However, since this association may be clinically relevant for some tumor subtypes (i.e., lung cancer and papillomaviruses), there is an urgent need for further investigation on this topic. Using innovative laboratory techniques for viral detection on well-defined tumor types, National and International networks against cancer should encourage and organize concerted research programs on viruses and solid cancer association. Experimental and clinical data on the possible association of other tumor types and carcinogenic viruses are presently controversial. In this article, we review the current evidence on the relationship between breast, colorectal and lung cancers and carcinogenic viruses. The majority of the publications reviewed do not provide definitive evidence that the viruses studied are associated with breast, colon and lung cancers. However, since this association may be clinically relevant for some tumor subtypes (i.e., lung cancer and papillomaviruses), there is an urgent need for further investigation on this topic. Using innovative laboratory techniques for viral detection on well-defined tumor types, National and International networks against cancer should encourage and organize concerted research programs on viruses and solid cancer association.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.27995/abstract;jsessionid=F3222A312D7432491D2F38BB9BB64760.f03t03

BK virus and human cancer

BK virus and human cancer: Innocent until proven guilty

Johanna R. Abend1, Mengxi Jiang1, Michael J. Imperiale,
Abstract: BK virus (BKV) is a polyomavirus that ubiquitously infects the human population. Following a typically subclinical primary infection, BKV establishes a life-long persistent infection in the kidney and urinary tract. BKV is known to reactivate and cause severe disease in immunosuppressed patients, particularly renal and bone marrow transplant patients. Infection of BKV in rodent animal models or cells in culture often results in tumor formation or transformation, respectively. When co-expressed with activated oncogenes, BKV large tumor antigen drives the transformation of primary human cells
http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1001024